The National FET Literature Catalogue has been developed, approved and sent to provinces. After due consultation, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has decided that Grade 11 must be implemented in 2016, Grade 12 in 2017 and Grade 10 in 2018. See Circular S13 OF 2015

The SA Booksellers annually host a breakfast for booksellers and publishers at this time of year before the Annual General Meetings. This year the speaker was Prof Tim Noakes, who enlightened us all as to his theories around carbohydrates and insulin resistance and the unbelievable success of The Real Meal Revolution. He is a very convincing speaker and also an extremely likeable man. We left wondering how we were going to resist all the glories of a grain fed and high carb existance.Read more…

The Booksellers Choice Awards are almost here and it is time to vote for the book you think should be chosen as the Booksellers Choice of the year. The short list is:

150 Stories by Nataniël le Roux, published by Human & RousseauGoeiemÔre Mnr Mandela by Zelda la Grange, published by Penguin Books South AfricaKamphoer by Francois Smith, published by Tafelberg PublishersLow Carb is Lekker by Ine Reynierse, published by Struik PublishersThe Keeper by Marguerite Poland, published by Penguin Books South Africa

Send us your choice by emailing: saba@sabooksellers.com and stand a chance to win a copy of each book.

The SA Booksellers Association members celebrated World Book Day 2015 in a way similar to the UK and Ireland. A selection of children’s books was available in participating bookstores for only R15 during the month of April. Customers were asked to buy and donate these books by putting them in the donation bins in stores and also to buy copies to share with the children in their lives and under privileged children. Over 4 000 books were collected and handed over to Project Literacy’s Run Home to Read campaign on the 17th of July. Read More.

Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi told thousands of matric pupils that a new era of quality education would begin in the province’s township and rural schools this term. The department will implement its “paperless classroom” programme, which entails a move towards digital learning through the use of tablets. It also aims to have chalkboards replaced with LED screens. Moving beyond the pilot phase that began in seven schools since January, the programme went live on Tuesday morning in 375 high schools offering grade 12, “mainly in township and rural areas”. Bongani Nkosi from the Mail and Guardian gives a full report here.

We love the concept behind and the scope of the recently launched Lire en Short (Reading in shorts) children’s literary festival in France, which has nationwide literary events taking place during the summer school holidays when children and parents are looking for entertainment.

The CNL (Centre National du Livre) released a report in March that showed that the reading habits of the French have decreased amongst the 15-24 age group, and it is hoped that this festival will address this.

We have five tickets for the South African Book Fair up for grabs. The event runs for the 31st July – 2nd August and promises to be something wonderful. We love the #discoveryourbookself campaign they are running on Facebook and encourage our readers to discover their bookself. Its easy: Share the five books that have shaped your life on Facebook and include the hashtag ‪#‎DiscoverYourBookself‬. Let us know what they are by emailing bookmark@sabooksellers.com and stand a chance to win.

Technology is giving UK booksellers hope in their battle against Amazon with a new web extension, Bookindy, that encourages book lovers to browse Amazon and then buy from a local bookstore. It completely reverses the trend of customers browsing in bookshops and then buying on Amazon. We wish it every success. Check out Ed Nawotka’s article on this cool extension to Google Chrome.

For the past two years something wonderful has been happening at Paris’ Maison de la Poésie, a public space dedicated to prose in an alley aptly named Passage Molière.

Whether it’s a gathering of poetry on the subject of exile with readings in Spanish, French and Farsi, accompanied by a musical guitar trio, a meeting with Egyptian author Sonallah Ibrahim, or most recently, a series of events built around the theme of Paris and London with authors such as Martin Amis, Nick Hornby, Zadie Smith or Jonathan Coe, accompanied by musicians and actors, La Maison de la Poésie, which used to exclusively host poetry events is now brimming with literary creativity in all shapes and forms.

At its annual Spring conference in the US, the STM Association launched its newest version of the Technology Trends for 2015, a series of three infographics which are very interesting to all players in the global book market.Read more…

Amazon currently has an Afrikaans section spanning over 3000 titles. David Henderson takes a look at which Afrikaans authors had a presence on the world’s largest eBook store, how they are selling and what they are doing right (or wrong).

The SA Book Fair 2015 is less than one month away and preparations are well underway for a new and improved fair. After nine years in Cape Town, the fair will take place in Johannesburg for the first time from 31 July to 2 August.

Book lovers all over the world celebrated World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April. The SA Booksellers Association strives toward promoting a culture of reading and learning by supporting literary events and initiatives and by assisting its members to do so. Read more on how the country celebrated this important day. Read more on how the country celebrated this important day.

The national Department of Arts and Culture, together with LIASA (Library and Information Association of South Africa), declared 14 to 21 March to be SA Library Week 2015. The theme for the week was “Connect @ your library!”. This theme focuses on libraries as socially inclusive spaces that connect people, communities, society, information, knowledge and technology. Theresa de Young tells us more about the celebrations.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has initiated the Book Flood Campaign whereby all provinces are expected to organise their own related events in order to collect books from all stakeholders for learners that do not have access to libraries. We have a look at KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape’s campaigns.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) Inputs and Contribution to a National Digital E-Book / E-Content Strategy, released in February this year, has been under discussion in many arenas as the local publishing and bookselling industry tries to understand how it will affect them in future business dealings with the department. Jessica Faircliff discusses the strategy in detail.

SABC Education African EduWeek is widely regarded as the premier education event on the African continent. Now entering its 9th year, African EduWeek 2015, is taking place at the Gallagher Convention Center in Midrand on the 1st and 2nd July will showcase over 120 international exhibitors, host free-to-attend education seminars, offer a new high-level technology conference E-Tech Africa, as well as technical workshops designed to enhance teacher training and development. Get more details here.